World Water Day is observed on March 22 every year. It is an international observance and an opportunity to learn more about water related issues, be inspired to tell others and take action to make a difference.
2016 Theme: Better Water, Better Jobs
- The theme in 2016 — water and jobs — is focusing on how enough quantity and quality of water can change workers’ lives and livelihoods – and even transform societies and economies.
- World Water Day dates back to the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development where an international observance for water was recommended.
- The United Nations General Assembly responded by designating 22 March 1993 as the first World Water Day. It has been held annually since then.
- UN-Water coordinates the UN’s work on water and sanitation for a better world.
- Through UN-Water, UN entities and international partners work together to place water and sanitation as top issues and 21 Century essential knowledge.
- World Water Day is one of UN-Water’s campaigns that aims to inform, engage and inspire action.
Did You Know?
- 3.4 million people die each year from water-related causes.
- There is a water reservoir floating in space that is equivalent to 140 trillion times all the water in the world’s ocean.
- The average human body is made of 50 to 65 percent water.
- Water covers 70.9 percent of the planet’s surface.
- Ninety-seven percent of the water on Earth is salt water; the water found in the Earth’s lakes, rivers, streams, ponds, swamps, etcetera accounts for only 0.3 percent of the world’s fresh water.
- 20% of the world’sunfrozen fresh water is in a single lake: Russia’s Lake Baikal.
- Bill Gates Sponsors a Machine That Turns Poop Into Drinking Water.
